Aaah, it is that time of year again.  Changing leaves, fires in the pit, weenie roasts, the first frost.   I love it.  Oh, but then all those wicked demon-lovers come out with their creepy decorations and mangled gourds and satanic costumes.  They are just trying to steal our children with buckets of candy.

Wait a minute.  We have those decorations, and jack-o’lanterns, and costumes.  That’s right folks: we are participating in that grand old pagan holiday known as Halloween.  What is a good old Irish family supposed to do?  So I thought a short history lesson might be in order for the folks who have just had their knickers crawl north.

Yes, it is true that in ancient pre-Christian Ireland October 31 was celebrated as Samhain (sow-in), a time when it was believed that the spirits of the dead could communicate with the living, and the dying of the crops was a symbol of human death.  Samhain festivals were celebrated with bonfires, costumes, heavy eating and drinking, slaughter of livestock (argued whether this was sacrificial or for the winter stores – probably conveniently both) and an occasional orgy.  Druid priests predicted the future and told fortunes.  All serious pagan stuff, and condemned by Bible and Tradition.

And along comes good St. Patrick and drives the snakes out of Ireland.  For those who do not know, the ancient Druids symbolized themselves with snakes, a symbol of their wisdom and immortality.  When St. Patrick came back to Ireland to save our poor pagan souls he sent the druids a ‘packin.  Thus “driving out the snakes”.  And as the Catholic church has done in so many places where pagan ritual and worship dominated the populace, she replaced the current festival with one intended to honor Almighty God and his saints, while not depriving the local people of all their fun. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints’ Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.  (Another little lesson: the ending “een” in the Gaelic tongue is used to denote smaller or younger, much like “ito” does in Spanish.)

Wikipedia says “In the ninth century, the Church measured the day as starting at sunset, in accordance with the Florentine calendar. Although All Saints’ Day is now considered to occur one day after Halloween, the two holidays were, at that time, celebrated on the same day. Liturgically, the Church traditionally celebrated that day as the Vigil of All Saints, and, until 1970, a day of fasting as well. Like other vigils, it was celebrated on the previous day if it fell on a Sunday, although secular celebrations of the holiday remained on the 31st. The Vigil was suppressed in 1955, but was later restored in the post-Vatican II calendar.”

The tradition of carving gourds originated in Ireland where the head was thought to be the center of power and to house the soul.  The gourds were hollowed and carved to likenesses of faces and a candle placed inside to ward off evil and to rebuke superstition (which when you think about it is funny, since Irish are the most superstitious people I have ever known).  Likewise, the costumes of Samhain morphed into costumes designed to poke fun at those who still believed that the spirits of the dead and the old pagan gods still held any power over the saved.

In America, and the rest of Western society, most if not all of the theological meaning of Halloween, All Saints, Samhain, etc. has been lost as we comercialized the holiday.  (See Santa images anyone?)  Anymore, we pretty much regard Halloween as a fun time to dress up and go nab some candy.  And who doesn’t need more candy?!

Costumes here: mamasully is going as an American Indian, because that costume still fits around the belly and I am not huge enough to need my pumpkin suit. Diligence: Vampire slayer (Fray if anyone knows who that is).  Charity: gypsy, Engineer: Grim Reaper, Eccentric: fairy princess, Stringbean: princess, Motormouth: goblin, Princess: ballerina, Turtle: tiny pumpkin.  Papasully has to be coerced into a costume every year, and we haven’t managed to convince him yet.  Ususally he caves when he sees everyone else dressed up.